Barnard's Loop facts for kids

Barnard's Loop is a huge, glowing cloud of gas and dust in space. It's a type of emission nebula, which means it gives off its own light. You can find it in the constellation of Orion, which is a famous group of stars.

This amazing space cloud is about 1,600 light-years away from Earth. A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, so 1,600 light-years is a very, very long way! Barnard's Loop is part of a bigger area called the Orion complex, which is a giant cloud of gas and dust where new stars are born.

Barnard's Loop looks like a giant semicircular arc, almost like a huge cosmic bubble. It stretches about 300 light-years across! In the middle of this huge loop, you can find two other well-known nebulae: the Orion nebula and the Horsehead nebula.

Barnard's Loop is mostly made of hot gas, especially hydrogen. This hydrogen gas glows with a bright red color, which is why many pictures of the nebula show it as a beautiful red arc in space. It's like a giant, glowing red ribbon in the night sky!

Barnard's Loop, a giant arc of glowing gas in space.

Related pages

• Orion (constellation)
• Nebulae

Images for kids

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  This picture shows Barnard's Loop in black and white, with colors inverted.

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  A long-exposure photo of Orion, showing the red clouds of ionized hydrogen. The big bow on the left is Barnard's Loop.